I love my "Job" - what about you?

[adrianh]

I'm sitting here today (midday on Sunday) getting ready to start working. I am sure that my daughters will make something to eat when they get back from their outing.

Anyway, I love what I do. I look forward to doing it, to solving problems, to the creative side, the technical side and of course making money. My work revolves around designing and manufacturing food safe silicone molds and also manufacturing food safe parts for the food manufacturing industry. The parts are mostly cnc machined in Acetal. My days are spent in 2D & 3D CAD using products like Rhinocad for engineering drawing and ZBrush for organic CAD. Then it is 3D printing, cnc machining, laser cutting, mold making and producing silicone molds. I work very closely with the customer because the work starts off with prototypes which are refined though various stages until large production molds are produced.

There is nothing better than taking a customer's rough idea and taking right through the process with them until I get to see the packets on the shelves of very large national and international chain stores.

Never in a million years would I have thought that I would find myself having to design 9 variations of a sweet (on a Sunday afternoon) to prototype changes to the mold so as to compensate for aberrations in shape due to 10%-50% shrinkage across the shape. I get to spend the afternoon messing with ZBrush and then I will CNC the shapes this evening to pour the silicone molds tomorrow.

I Truly love what I do....

I've also hit upon an idea for a product that would sell world wide to each and every person that is into baking biscuits. It's one of those things that will make an absolute fortune if it is in the right hands (which isn't me. I want to see how one would go about protecting and licencing the product)

So....if you love what YOU do tell us about it....

[Blurock]

Adrian, I fully understand the satisfaction that creativity and doing what you love can give. "Love what you do, do what you love".

Peter Drucker, the marketing guru one said; "Because the purpose of business is to create a customer, the business has two - and only two basic functions; marketing and innovation
Marketing and Innovation produce results; all the rest are costs. Marketing is the distinguishing, unique function of the business".

My suggestion would be to first protect your IP and innovation, not by registering a patent, but by partnering with someone who could be contractually bound to bring the products to the market and promote it worldwide. The world has become corrupt and patents are not being recognized universally; it has to be registered in almost every country individually. All patents are eventually copied. Should you register a patent and not launch immediately, someone may produce the product in a foreign country long before you are ready. To litigate in foreign countries may just be beyond our means.

By keeping your innovation under wraps until you are ready to launch, you have a window of opportunity and first mover advantage for a limited period of time.
This may give you enough time to establish a brand that will outsell any late comers to the market. Further R&D may keep you ahead of the competition and further strengthen your competitive advantage.

[ians]

I f^&* love what i do...

What is it that i actually do.

(what pays the bills) I am an electrical contractor... the satisfaction of looking at a completed project ...makes me feel good knowing i have put my heart and soul into the job ..."doing it right the first time everytime" (my company logo)

I also tinker with wood projects... my weekend job (try to make a few bob to cover costs...it never does)

https://www.facebook.com/crankywoodworker/

and i design and build kickboats (also a side line thing)

https://www.facebook.com/Custom-kickboats-280175928789235/

and if i am bored ...i make fishing rod stands (also a side line thing)

https://www.facebook.com/customrodracks.co.za/

I hate dong the same thing over and over... so for something different

I decided to go learn everything i can about CCTV ...spent a couple of weeks learning about alarm systems... also done a few gate and garage door installations just for something different ...a new learning experience.

I have installed a full X64 IDS alarm system on a test rig simulating my house...started from scratch...had no idea what i was doing ...did all the basic and advanced courses...learnt to set it up...then programed it using IDS swift 2 ...then loaded the phone app and set that up... then decided to learn to program the system using the keypad... thats what i enjoy doing... i get bored quickly... so this kind of thing keeps my mind active.


I have just over a year to go to achieve one of my lifetime goals...to run a business for 30 years... i am quite amused by the comments i hear about this goal... some say running a one man business is not such a great achievement... well all i can say is boy have a learnt a few things about business... if i look back at what is suppose to be the ideal business model ...and followed it to the book ...good chance i would have been one of the 70 % fail rate after the first 5 years or one of the 98 % who fail after 10 years.

[Andromeda]

and if i am bored ...i make fishing rod stands (also a side line thing)

https://www.facebook.com/customrodracks.co.za/

Beautiful work.

[adrianh]

Beautiful work.

Wow - that is very very nice.

[adrianh]

Adrian, I fully understand the satisfaction that creativity and doing what you love can give. "Love what you do, do what you love".

Peter Drucker, the marketing guru one said; "Because the purpose of business is to create a customer, the business has two - and only two basic functions; marketing and innovation
Marketing and Innovation produce results; all the rest are costs. Marketing is the distinguishing, unique function of the business".

My suggestion would be to first protect your IP and innovation, not by registering a patent, but by partnering with someone who could be contractually bound to bring the products to the market and promote it worldwide. The world has become corrupt and patents are not being recognized universally; it has to be registered in almost every country individually. All patents are eventually copied. Should you register a patent and not launch immediately, someone may produce the product in a foreign country long before you are ready. To litigate in foreign countries may just be beyond our means.

By keeping your innovation under wraps until you are ready to launch, you have a window of opportunity and first mover advantage for a limited period of time.
This may give you enough time to establish a brand that will outsell any late comers to the market. Further R&D may keep you ahead of the competition and further strengthen your competitive advantage.

I will think about everything you said. I have many many ideas every day. Most are no good but now and then something really viable pops up. The product is fairly easy to make (with a bit of know-how) and easy to copy. The only way would be to license the idea and production process in some way. I don't want to manufacture, market or sell the product myself - I just want to prototype it sell some sort of license to a large company that can run with it efficiently. Although I can manufacture in house I would think that it would have to be done in China to get high volumes and low prices. I really think that a large company that is already in the industry could make an absolute killing.

“Why, sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.”
― Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland

[Blurock]

"Anyone can work a 9-5 during the week, go out on the weekends and party, and complain about Monday mornings when the start of the week comes back around.

Not anyone can quit a job that provides a sense of security in order to pursue their dream. Not anyone can handle the sacrifices needed to continue the journey. Not anyone can handle the amount of stress you endure through all the obstacles you will encounter.

So here is a BIG shout out to all of you who are pursuing your dream! The credit is rarely given when times are tough. It's usually only given once you make it to the top. Then everyone acts like they were supporters since day one.

We admire those who are pursing their dreams, wherever they happen to be in their journey. Anyone can give up, anyone can give in, and settle for a sense of security but NOT everyone can keep going through the highs and the lows and still have fuel to keep going.

You all know who you are. We salute you". Author unknown

[Blurock]

Although I can manufacture in house I would think that it would have to be done in China to get high volumes and low prices.

I do not think you have to go to China for manufacturing. We have very competent toolmakers and manufacturers in South Africa. My associates have actually out-quoted China on occasion with much better quality. It is important that a tool be hardened for longevity and can also be serviced by the local manufacturer. The advantage is that the tool (mold) can be fine tuned for maximum productivity and small adjustments made when necessary. That is not possible when buying a tool from China.

When it comes to injection moulding or any other method of manufacturing, the numbers will dictate the price; that is where the marketing comes in, to generate enough sales to keep the machines running 24/7. Partnering with and licencing a company already successful in the type of industry you want to target is therefore advisable.

[adrianh]

I do not think you have to go to China for manufacturing. We have very competent toolmakers and manufacturers in South Africa. My associates have actually out-quoted China on occasion with much better quality. It is important that a tool be hardened for longevity and can also be serviced by the local manufacturer. The advantage is that the tool (mold) can be fine tuned for maximum productivity and small adjustments made when necessary. That is not possible when buying a tool from China.

When it comes to injection moulding or any other method of manufacturing, the numbers will dictate the price; that is where the marketing comes in, to generate enough sales to keep the machines running 24/7. Partnering with and licencing a company already successful in the type of industry you want to target is therefore advisable.

Dunno so much about that. I've had 3 injection molds made locally.

The one was a total disaster because the company took over a year to do the tooling and they couldn't get the clips right in the end. My staff and I ended up assembling and gluing 30,000 units by hand.

The second one was small and that was OK.

The third one cost R120k and could only be produced on a 120ton machine. The injection molding company stuck their nose very deep in the business and their meddling destroyed the country wide uptake of the product. We did 20,000 units and that was it. They were so hell bent on making money that they started punting the product themselves and pissed the clients off in the process. BTW: They also went bankrupt not long after...

I am very weary of working with local injection molding companies because of their poor business practice. I am far more comfortable dealing with the Chinese.

I actually own a small Arburg machine which we plan to get up and running shortly.

Ok, that said - my product cannot be made efficiently using a conventional injection molding machine. I can do it easily by hand though. If it were to be done cold it would require a fairly simple process but it might not be cost effective. If it were to be done hot then one would have to use a really really big machine due to the shape.

[Blurock]

One half of Molding tool manufactured in 10 weeks at better price and quality than imported one
Total weight more than 1000 kg.

Unfortunately, tool making is a dying industry in SA as the qualified and experienced guys are either retiring or leaving.
There is a great future with good prospects for youngsters who are prepared to put in the ground work and do an apprenticeship with a good design engineer.
Unfortunately, it appears that everyone is shying away from hard work.

[ians]

[ATTACH=CONFIG]7686[/ATTACH]
One half of Molding tool manufactured in 10 weeks at better price and quality than imported one
Total weight more than 1000 kg.

Unfortunately, tool making is a dying industry in SA as the qualified and experienced guys are either retiring or leaving.
There is a great future with good prospects for youngsters who are prepared to put in the ground work and do an apprenticeship with a good design engineer.
Unfortunately, it appears that everyone is shying away from hard work.

I do work for 2 plastic injection moulding companies...built one from the ground up and the other we relocated...everything from the main supply (800 amp)...to the tool room...to the chiller plants...injection moulding machines.

The guys i work with know their stuff.

[adrianh]

Its funny how things work - After many years of doing different things in different industries I can honestly say that I have found my niche. I do food safe mold making for a number of huge organizations and I feel kinda humbled by their comments. I had a meeting yesterday morning with one of the companies and the MD couldn't stop raving about the molds. I could feel myself going bright red when his product manager made a comment to him in the meeting that he was skeptical when the MD said that he doesn't have to worry because I know what I am doing but that he sees that the MD is right. I made some test molds that they going to be using this week to tune the process. If the testing goes well then I will get an order from them for a full set of production molds worth about R130k. I've been going back n forth with the production manager of a different company this morning. They are abroad and they landed a huge deal to supply their product into an addition 10,000 shops across the EU. They are frantic for molds to double their production capacity. I just got an order for a truckload of work worth a beeeeg bag of money. ....and the best of it is that the work is actually $h1T easy - compared to other things that I've been into.

I'm not bragging - hell, it's humbling to have this kind of support - I'm just sharing because I'm happy that the universe finally giving me a bit of a break....

[ians]

Its funny how things work - After many years of doing different things in different industries I can honestly say that I have found my niche. I do food safe mold making for a number of huge organizations and I feel kinda humbled by their comments. I had a meeting yesterday morning with one of the companies and the MD couldn't stop raving about the molds. I could feel myself going bright red when his product manager made a comment to him in the meeting that he was skeptical when the MD said that he doesn't have to worry because I know what I am doing but that he sees that the MD is right. I made some test molds that they going to be using this week to tune the process. If the testing goes well then I will get an order from them for a full set of production molds worth about R130k. I've been going back n forth with the production manager of a different company this morning. They are abroad and they landed a huge deal to supply their product into an addition 10,000 shops across the EU. They are frantic for molds to double their production capacity. I just got an order for a truckload of work worth a beeeeg bag of money. ....and the best of it is that the work is actually $h1T easy - compared to other things that I've been into.

I'm not bragging - hell, it's humbling to have this kind of support - I'm just sharing because I'm happy that the universe finally giving me a bit of a break....

Well done...why not brag...you work hard you get rewarded...pat yourself on the back and dont forget to spoil the people behind the scenes.

[adrianh]

Well done...why not brag...you work hard you get rewarded...pat yourself on the back and dont forget to spoil the people behind the scenes.

I only have 2 workers and of course my 2 daughters that live with me. My youngest daughter will get mags for her car (don't ask - LoL) and my eldest daughter will get her R4k noise cancelling headphones. I'll give the workers a fat Christmas bonus.

I really want to sponsor a young girl that is studying with my youngest daughter. Her dad is in a wheelchair and her mom doesn't work but rents out a farm for an income. They seem to get disability and child grants. Anyhow, in the beginning of the year she applied to the government for a bursary to study (at a government institution) and the bursary was granted. Then 3 months later the bursary was withdrawn because they claimed that it shouldn't have been granted in the first place for some idiotic reason. Her friends and family did a lot of fundraising and she managed to to stay on and study. She is now 60% through the course and they are demanding that she pays R40k to write exams this year. I think its absurd but the fact remains that she needs to make the payment. She also needs between R40k and R60k to complete the course next year. I just think that it is a complete waste to write the year off and have a R40k debt to end up flipping burgers for the rest of her life. To be honest - I don't really give a toss about money - I will far rather enable her to build a life for herself that spend all my cash on a new car or some nonsense. I'm not saying that I will be able to give her R100k to solve her problems but I sure am willing do something to help her along. I can tell you - a poor white 19 year old girl is completely fxcked in this country without community support.

[adrianh]

We live in an amazing time. I got sponsorship to send my daughter to study in the UK and to pay for the studies of my youngest daughter's friend. There are people in this world who are able to commit to spending R800k a year on other people's kids education without batting an eye! All he asks is that they pay it forward.

...I don't think that either of the girls are going to sleep tonight because they are so excited.